On Care for the Dead · §3 · Augustine of Hippo

Burial place and the soul's misery

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Augustine is answering Paulinus's question about burial, and now turns to ask whether the place of a body helps or harms the soul of the dead.

That brief answer of mine could have been enough for your question, but pay attention for a moment to the other things that trouble people, which I think need a response. In the books of Maccabees we read that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But even if it were nowhere read in the old Scriptures at all, the authority of the whole church, which shines clearly in this custom, is not small: in the prayers of the priest that are poured out to the Lord God at his altar, the prayerful commending of the dead also has its own place.

But whether the place of a person's body helps the soul of the dead is a question that needs more careful work. First, we must consider—not according to some popular opinion, but rather according to the sacred writings of our religion—whether it matters at all for bringing in or increasing misery after this life for the spirits of human beings if their bodies have not been buried. For we must not believe, as is read in Virgil, that the unburied are prevented from sailing across and passing over the river of the underworld, because, of course, they are not permitted to carry their bones across the dreadful banks and the roaring waters until their bones have rested in their resting places. What Christian heart would incline to these poetic and fabulous inventions, when the Lord Jesus assures us that not a hair of their head will perish, urging Christians not to fear those who, when they have killed the body, have nothing more they can do, so that Christians might die without fear in the hands of enemies who hold their bodies in their power? On this point I spoke enough, as I think, in the first book of The City of God, to blunt the tooth of those who blame the barbarian devastation—especially what Rome recently suffered—on Christian times, and who also throw this objection: that Christ did not come to the aid of his own there. When it is answered to them that the souls of the faithful were received by him according to the merits of their faith, they mock about the unburied corpses. So I explained this whole topic of burial in such words.

Latin

Poterat inquisitioni tuae sufficere mea breuis ista responsio; sed quae alia moueant, quibus respondendum existimo, parumper adtende. in Machabaeorum libris legimus oblatum pro mortuis sacrificium. sed et si nusquam in scripturis ueteribus omnino legeretur, non parua est uniuersae ecclesiae quae in hac consuetudine claret auctoritas, ubi in precibus sacerdotis quae domino deo ad eius altare funduntur locum suum habet etiam commendatio mortuorum.

Sed utrum aliquid prosit animae mortui locus corporis sui, operosius inquirendum est. ac primum utrum intersit aliquid ad inferendam uel augendam miseriam post hanc uitam spiritibus hominum, si eorum corpora sepulta non fuerint, non secundum opinionem utcumque uulgatam, sed potius secundum religionis nostrae sacras litteras est uidendum. neque enim credendum est, sicut apud Maronem legitur, insepultos nauigando atque transeundo inferno amne prohiberi, quia scilicet nec ripas datur horrendas et rauca fluenta transportare prius, quam sedibus ossa quierunt. quis cor christianum inclinet his poeticis fabulosisque figmentis, cum dominus Iesus, ut inter manus inimicorum, qui eorum corpora in potestate haberent, securi occumberent christiani, nec capillum capitis eorum adserat periturum, exhortans ne timeant eos, qui cum corpus occiderint, amplius non habent quid faciant? unde in primo libro de 'Ciuitate dei' satis, quantum existimo, sum locutus, ut eorum dentem retunderem, qui barbaricam uastitatem, praecipue quam nuper Roma perpessa est, Christianis temporibus inputando etiam id obiciunt, quod suis illic non subuenerit Christus. quibus cum responsum fuerit animas fidelium pro suae fidei meritis ab illo fuisse susceptas, insultant de cadaueribus insepultis. totum itaque istum de sepultura locum uerbis talibus explicaui.

About this text

Paulinus wrote to ask whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) wrote this letter to Paulinus, bishop of Nola. Paulinus had asked whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint. The question was prompted by the request of Flora, a religious widow, for her deceased son to be buried in the basilica of the confessor Felix, while the body of Cynegius, a faithful young man and a different person, had already been placed there.

Augustine argues that burial location does not directly help or harm the dead, because the dead cannot sense what happens to their bodies. What helps the dead is the prayerful remembrance of the living, which can be increased when burial is at a holy memorial, so Christians should care for the dead from affection and faith in the resurrection and place hope in prayer and the church commemoration rather than in place. The reader will meet Paulinus, Flora, Cynegius, Felix, Curma who had a vision near death, Eulogius who dreamed of Augustine, John the monk consulted about a civil war, Ambrose at the shrines of Protasius and Gervasius, and Candidianus who carried the letter. Augustine quotes Paulinus to answer him, quotes Scripture from Paul, the Psalms, the prophets and the Gospel, gives the speech of the rich man to Abraham and the reported words of John, and gives Virgil in prose paraphrase rather than verse quotation.

Here memorial shrine means a shrine at the burial place of a martyr or saint meant to keep the dead in remembrance, and burial means the act of burying. Prayer, prayerful commending, sacrifice offered at the altar, alms and the intercession of martyrs are the means by which the living help the dead, while spirit means the soul apart from the body, vision means a dream seeing of the dead, and likeness means only the image seen and not the person himself. Old names keep Augustine Old Latin and Septuagint use, with the books of the Kingdoms meaning 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, Ecclesiasticus meaning Sirach, Jesus son of Sirach meaning Ben Sira, the Acts of the Apostles meaning Acts, the books of the Machabees meaning Maccabees, and the Psalms numbered as in the Septuagint.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 41 (1900) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.